Armored Core: Hoshiname
by The Author
Summary: -RETIRED- An old Armored Core story I was writing at one point.
1. A New Raven Enters the Fold

Be warned, if I find this anywhere...ANYWHERE but where I've said it can be, I'll find you and beat you to death with your own frozen innards! Got it?! Alrighty!  
  
Chapter One, A New Raven Enters the Fold  
  
{WE WILL BE ARRIVING AT THE MISSION DESTINATION IMMENENTLY, TRAINEES, PLEASE PREPARE YOUR ARMORED CORES FOR LAUNCH}  
  
Tygre looked at the controls on the inside of his AC, a giant robotic fighting tool that stood the height of most apartment buildings, the controls looked like one of those ancient gaming controllers from the Playstation 2. He tapped the buttons fretfully, bringing up the diagnostics of his Armored Core 'Hoshiname'. Low Armor Points, basic radar, no automatic computer functions, minimal boost abilities, minimal firepower and low ammunition, weak energy sabre, and out of date missile systems, this was one way to test a perspective Raven, or get one killed.  
  
"Man! How'm I s'posta get anything done with this thing?" Tygre sighed, "But I guess it's better than a lousy MT, and if I pass, I get three of these to upgrade as a new Raven."  
  
A flurry of button pressing brought scores of dark blue windows to the screen, displaying enemy data, how many enemies were left, the radar and the condition of the AC. Suddenly, the monotone speaker that was his computer's voice boomed out again.  
  
{ATTENTION TRAINEES, WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE MISSION DESTINATION, PREPARE FOR LAUNCH PROCEDURES, AND GOOD LUCK OUT THERE}  
  
"Computer, take a note, I have to get your voice re-done." Tygre chuckled as the back hatch of the Raven Drop ship opened, de-pressurizing the room and pulling Hoshiname and another Raven trainee from the hatch, Tygre remembered his Pilot Identity to be Appleboy.  
  
["Hey, Tygre, I'll go left, you go right and we'll sweep the city before they serve up dinner tonight!"] Appleboy's voice cut clear through the radio speaker in Tygre's head jack.  
  
["Fine, let's do that then Appleboy."] Tygre nodded as his boosters shot, bringing him slowly to the city street, he was really thinking "That's what you think!"  
  
Hoshiname burst into action, the rifle on it's right arm launching heated rounds into a berserk MT that had flashed over the radar. The bullets slammed into the fragile metal making up the worker robot, quickly finding the fuel tank and blowing the 'bot up before it's programming even registered what was happening. As the shower of sparks and debris cascaded through the night sky, Tygre flicked on the Over Boost option that came with his Core and blazed down the street towards the next MT. Hoshiname strafed left, then right, left again as the MT launched it's energy drill at it, then swiped across it with his energy sabre, slamming into it and knocking it apart, the two parts exploding on either side of it, silhouetting Hoshiname against a skyscraper.  
  
["I've got two Appleboy, how're you doing?"] Static flashed through the radio instead of a response, ["Appleboy, are you alright over there?!"]  
  
["Yeargh.Ty...get...here!!] Appleboy's voice rang out through the static, panicked and desperate.  
  
Tygre turned his AC around quickly, jumping high into the air and launching his boosters, slowly rising over the buildings, and he almost dropped the controls when he saw it. A giant MT had entered the test area and had a weird metal tentacle lanced through Appleboy's cockpit, scanning it closer as he approached, Tygre saw that it was covered in gore. Going against everything the training manual stated, Tygre flicked the Over Boost switch, the back of his AC opening and a brilliant blue flame blazing forth again, launching him through the sky at the MT. The heat sensors chirped as he blasted through the air, and he suddenly realized he was falling, not shooting towards the monster, his generator had overheated and cut out! He forced the reserve power to kick in, raising his rifle arm up and shooting wildly, bullets slamming harmlessly into the heavily armoured shell. Tygre stared in horror as several metal tentacles shot towards him from the insectoid MT, spelling a messy death for him, he squeezed his eyes shut, awaiting his doom.  
  
["Raven! Don't just stand there, get your ass up and moving!"] A female voice chimed in over the radio, causing Tygre to open his eyes wide in surprise.  
  
A stark black AC, seemingly clad in it's own tangible 'force' was standing in front of him, a brilliant, white-hot energy sabre was on it's left arm, no visible weapons were on it's right arm, and by the looks of the AC design, it was a quick one. Light humanoid legs, a core with the Over-Boost function, and an optional part to re-charge drained energy. Tygre also noticed three of the metal tentacles on the ground, sparking and writhing, the areas where the mysterious AC's sabre had sliced them off were molten and red hot.  
  
["I said get out of here rookie!"]  
  
Tygre flicked the switch and checked his power output, great! He had a full charge again, quickly he considered his options, help the newcomer, who seemed quite capable on her own, or leave and report back to the Raven's Nest.  
  
["NOW!!"]  
  
That did it, with a tap of a button, Tygre called the dropship back and rushed into the centre of the city, waiting and looking back to see the mysterious AC slicing the MT with it's sabre. Once, twice, thrice, tentacles littered the ground and Hoshiname's visual scanners shut down and Tygre was swamped in welcomed blackness. The dropship anchored Hoshiname to a cable as it swooped by, pulling the AC into it's hanger bay and locking it in place.  
  
{WELCOME BACK RAVEN, THE TEST WAS INTERFERED WITH, SO YOU PASSED BY DEFAULT. DON'T LET WHAT HAPPENED TONIGHT SCARE YOU, THIS HASN?T HAPPENED AT ALL IN RAVEN HISTORY} 


	2. Mysteries Revealed

Chapter Two, Mysteries Revealed October 27/03  
  
The alarm chirped again, as it had the last five times, as annoying as always, before Tygre's closed fist slammed onto it's top, pushing down the ?SNOOZE? button. The young man rolled over under the drab grey sheets of his bed in the Raven's Barracks, muttering about getting a new place once he made a few Credits. He sat up, his naturally light grey hair flying in all directions as he shook his head, clearing the fog of sleep that lingers just after one wakes up for the fifth time.  
  
"Oh man, what a freaky test last night," Tygre yawned, "They said that that'd never happened before, but I'm not so sure."  
  
Tygre swung his legs out of the bed and stood up, stumbling in the dark towards the showers, not daring to flick on the lights lest he bother the elder Ravens. He stepped onto the warmed tile floor and closed the door, flicking on a light and squinting as he swung open the linen closet and grabbed a towel. The Raven stepped from his plaid, pseudo-cotton pajama pants, kicking them onto a bench and tossing his towel on top of them as he stepped under the shower and waited for the computer to turn the water on.  
  
{GOOD MORNING TYGRE,} the monotone of his AC computer chiming through, some corporate big-wig thought it was a good idea for the Raven's AC's to greet them in the morning, the fool'd obviously never piloted one. {BEGINNING CLENLINESS PROCEDURES, WATER WILL BE SET AT THE USER SPECIFIED TEMPERATURE}  
  
Hot water rushed forth from the showerhead, splashing down across Tygre as he started to shower, thinking of the goings on last night, wondering who was piloting that mysterious AC and whether or not Appleboy had survived the encounter with the insectoid MT. The water cut off abruptly, ending Tygre's shower, another idea the big-wig's had come up with, the thirty second shower, they wanted to 'conserve planetary resources', but all of the Ravens knew that they were lining their own pockets. Tygre grabbed his towel and dried off, nabbing a comb and combing his unruly hair into a semblance of order, then tugging open the drawer under the counter, his combat outfit and underclothes cleaned and folded neatly. Tygre marvelled at the efficiency of the Raven's Barracks as he tugged the dark blue tactical outfit on, slipping the com-link into his ear and the dark glasses that let one see from the cockpit of an AC found their way onto his face.  
  
"Right, computer, start Hoshiname's systems and keep 'em running for me, I'll be right there, oh, and run a search for Appleboy's hospital room, I'll need the tele-com number." Tygre walked from the Barracks, the door sliding open automatically, leading into the AC Hangar, his com-link chirping as he neared Hoshiname. Tygre tapped the ear piece and hopped onto Hoshiname's hand, climbing up to it's chest plate and popping open the hatch into the cockpit. He slid into the seat, which was moulded to fit his form, keeping him from being jostled as much from a heavy blow, and the seatbelts, along with the harness, slid over his shoulders, locking him in place. Immediately his sunglasses turned opaque and the dark blue panels flew into his vision, one with a flashing orange tele-com number.  
  
"Alright Hoshiname, patch me into Appleboy's room, code 455-9645-89-0, and proceed with launch procedure Raven two."  
  
Numbers flew across the windows, and eventually cleared, patching Tygre into the AC's field of vision, in non-combat mode. Tygre took hold of the controls and moved Hoshiname forward as the bay doors opened, leading into the city streets, he had to be careful to use only the AC roads, as the others held the tiny vehicles that carted civilians around in their daily lives.  
  
["Tygre, hey buddy"] Appleboy?s voice came through on his radio, sounding subdued and less energetic than he usually sounded. The man had taken the Raven test eagerly, having prepared for it through years of military MT training, hoping one day to get the call from his superiors that the Nest wanted him. When the call had come, he immediately put in his resignation from the Layered Military Hub, which was approved by the Controller.  
  
["Hey! How're you doing bud? I saw what happened with the MT last night, where the hell did it come from?"]  
  
["I dunno, I'd just finished off another MT, I got your call of two, I was just heading for my third one, when a bunch of metal tentacles burst from the ground under me. They wrapped around my AC and squeezed it, then my sensors kicked out and the next thing I knew, I was thrown from my AC with half of my stomach ripped out?"]  
  
["We're lucky that black AC came and took care of it, she really saved our hides?"]  
  
[What black AC? Are you sure you weren't seeing things bud? By all accounts?they say you destroyed that MT, then returned to the Nest?]  
  
'Huh? That's weird,' Tygre thought, thinking back. Last night, he'd run away when the female pilot told him to.didn't he?  
  
["Er, thanks Appleboy, hopefully you get back on your feet soon! I'll check on you later on then, eheh."] Tygre spoke uncertainly into the radio, moving his AC off to the left, towards the Raven's Nest.  
  
["Okay, have fun, don't forget about the Arena!"]  
  
Hoshiname moved steadily towards the Raven's Nest, running on the autopilot program that would lock it into the Nest's hangar and give Tygre 'Garage' options. A pleasant female voice sounded over the radio, the Nest's main computer, which, coincidentally, was the ONLY computer with a direct link to the Controller's mainframe.  
  
{WELCOME TO THE NEST, RAVEN TYGRE, PLEASE ENJOY YOUR STAY. YOU HAVE THREE NEW MESSAGES} 


End file.
